Portable industrial steam boilers such as those sold and or operated by a variety of companies are widely used in many sectors of the economy including the northern oil and gas industry, to provide the supplemental heat energy needed to make various activities possible when in cold climates and temperatures often associated with the geography where these types of industries operate. This needed supplemental heat energy is often delivered by the use of portable steam boilers which deliver heat energy in the form of high temperature and high pressure steam used in a variety of areas ranging from supplying space or building heat via heat exchangers, to direct contact applications where the high temperature steam is directly applied to the object to be heated—ie: an oil-field well-head. Portable industrial steam boilers are capable of supplying the ‘heat’ energy using steam as a high temperature and relatively high pressure medium allowing for delivery of the heat energy over long distances; multiple locations originating from a single ‘boiler’ unit through the use of headers and then multiple smaller delivery lines. Steam boilers also have the advantage of delivering a ‘fameless’ form of heat energy to sensitive locations in that the boiler unit can be located at safe distances away from the sensitive application or source of combustion and only the hot water or steam is delivered to the sensitive area allowing for a completely flameless delivery of heat energy. On the other hand, boilers are thermally inefficient systems and require significant expertise to operate; use significant amounts of clean and fresh water; use water/steam as the heat delivery medium which can be problematic when used in direct applications and at cold temperatures (freezing and icing caused by water residue); water must be ‘returned’ and re-cycled in closed loop applications such as heat-exchangers or radiant heaters.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved flameless heat delivery system that is able to deliver similar temperatures and pressures to those of a steam boiler but with much higher efficiencies and without the use of water or steam as the delivery medium.